Coming Home
by MEStarr
Summary: The Pevensies return to Narnia but one is separated on the way...what happens when an old enemy returns? how will Narnia cope when the weather gets a little chilly...*hint* Suspian
1. Chapter 1

**Bt dubs- the horse name (shadow) is pretty crap. I couldn't think of anything so, hey, let's copy lord or the rings. So….sorry bout that.**

"Susan? Do you want to play scrabble with us?" Lucy offered, running into my attic room. I was sitting on the window ledge, looking over the snowy white garden.

"Sure Lu." I smiled as I got up and followed her downstairs into the living room. Peter and Edmund were just finishing a game of chess, apparently fighting over who was better at the game. I sat and laughed at their bickering as they finished.

Lucy had set up the board and we all sat around it on the floor. It was a fun game; normally we argued loads but not this time. After ten minutes or so, I noticed Edmund was staring out into the snow with a strange expression on his face; as if remembering something.

"You okay Ed?" I asked, poking his arm next to me. He jumped and shook his head.

"I'm fine. Just remembering Na-" he stopped himself suddenly. There was an awkward silence; the other two looked at me cautiously. I forced myself not to think of it…of him.

I put down my letters in silence, restarting the game without a word. As much as I tried, I couldn't not remember; it had been two years now since we'd returned from the magical land of Narnia. The longest two years of my life. It was okay for Edmund and Lucy; they could return. But not Peter and I, Aslan had advised us not to return and we'd agreed reluctantly. He's told us we'd learnt all we could from there.

As we played, the light outside dimmed until it was totally dark. We could play and stay up for as long as we pleased. That fact may make some people our age happy but not us. We lived alone; we had no parents to guide us for they'd died in a car crash four years ago. Peter was the head of the family, being the oldest; then me, Edmund and finally little Lu. We coped well enough.

There was suddenly a cold wind in the room; wiping my long brown hair of my face. "What's that?" Peter asked, turning to face the direction from which it came. There was nothing there.

The light in the corner of the room flickered and went out, the room flooded with darkness.

"Peter!" Lucy screeched, she always was scared of the dark.

"I'm here Lu. " his voice sounded, I could just about see their outlines as my eyes adjusted to the darkness; Peter held Lucy's hand and Edmund hers. "Su? Come here."

I made my way towards him slowly, trying to avoid the furniture. "Must be a power cut." I muttered, almost there. I caught my foot on something and tripped into him, he just caught me.

"You okay there?" he asked, putting me right again. There was another gust of cool wind as I nodded, taking hold of his hand.

"Doesn't this remind you of something?" Lucy said suddenly, through the darkness she sounded incredibly happy and pleased. None of us said anything and I heard her take an exasperated deep breath. "The train station!"

I gaped at her, "What?"

"We're going back Susan!!" she shouted. Peter's hand tightened over mine, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"No. No, Lucy we can't go back! You two yes, but not us!" I said in a slightly panicked voice. As much as I wanted to return to Narnia; I couldn't, I mustn't. The wind was getting stronger now, something whistled past my ear and a small scream escaped my throat.

"What is it?!" Peter asked, shocked.

"Nothing, what's going on!" I muttered, something else hit my leg hard. Suddenly, a blurred light appeared in the middle of us, slowly growing. It was strange, the right lit up our faces and we could see each other but it didn't penetrate the darkness behind.

It was close now, I wanted to reach out and touch it; but I was still holding onto my brothers. If I could just, reach out. Without meaning too, my hand slipped off Edmunds. Peter held on tighter, I couldn't get free.

"Su! Take my hand!" Edmund shouted as the light grew more. He was looking from me to the light, panic in his eyes. Every time we'd gone before we'd all held hands; who knew what would happen if we didn't.

Things were flying all around the room now, the wind was so strong. Something hit mine and Peters hands; breaking us apart. Then I was out of the circle, Peter was reaching out to me but I couldn't see his hand. What was happening now; the light was almost on them now. I had to get through with them.

Next thing I knew, I was floating; and then, somehow, I was standing in a forest. After shaking myself, I looked around.

Narnia.

I sighed, I was home. But where were the others? They were nowhere to be seen. "Peter? Lucy…Ed?" I shouted, looking around me. Could they be playing a trick, hiding from me? But then again, what had happened back at the house? I hadn't held on to them, I'd broken free. What did that mean? Did they not come through? How could this happen? Aslan wouldn't let only one of us come back, that would never happen.

I was in the middle of a forest, totally alone. Last time we'd only been gone one year and it had been ages in Narnian time. This time it was two years so any changes could have happened. Any new source of evil, like the Telmarines last time.

After a few minutes thought, I decided I wouldn't be found if I didn't move. But I also didn't know if I wanted to be found; anyway, I began to walk. Twenty minutes later I began wishing I had a horse or something; it was incredibly hard to get through this thick forest on foot.

No more than a minute after the thought had crossed my mind, I heard the familiar sound of hooves coming towards me. I stopped, looking around me; whatever it was, horse or centaur, made a loud neighing noise. Then it appeared from behind a huge bush.

It was the most beautiful horse I had ever seen; a huge white stallion, at least 17 hands, much taller than me. It approached slowly, and stopped about a meter away from me. I smiled and held my hand out, taking a cautious step forwards. It didn't move apart from bopping his head slightly. It stayed still as I rested my hand on its nose and stroked it. I recognized this horse from somewhere; I knew I'd seen him before.

He took a sudden step back from me and did something I didn't expect. He bent his head; bowing. I smiled curiously and did the same back. I just couldn't place where I'd seen him before.

"Now who are you?" I murmured as I stroked him again, closer this time. "I've seen you before…" His great head bobbed again, brushing my shoulder. Suddenly I remembered, this was Shadow, the most famous horse in all of Narnia; the horse lord. Strange that he was here though, all the old stories told that he was never seen.

"Shadow." I whispered, smiling. Once again he neighed, taking another step forwards so I stroked his mane. He kneeled again, as if telling me to mount him; another thing I knew about this horse was that he was in absolutely no way tame. "You want me to ride you?" I asked. Stupid, I thought, talking to a horse. He bopped his head for the third time.

With a slightly nervous sigh, I wound my fingers into his long white mane and jumped on; surprisingly gracefully. He rose and, before I could stop him, we were off; darting through the trees at lightning speed. I held on so tight it could hurt a normal horse but he didn't react at all. Within five minutes, the trees began to thin and we could run more freely; I relaxed and loosened my hold slightly, no longer scared of hitting trees.

Shadow was incredibly fast, the fastest horse in all of Narnia; no other had a single chance of catching up. I felt happy. I felt free.


	2. Chapter 2

What had happened? Why wasn't Susan here? Something had happened back home and she hadn't come through. She'd let go, why had she let go?

"Where's Susan Peter!" Lucy cried, looking around frantically like Edmund was also.

"She's not here." I murmured, surely Aslan wouldn't just leave her behind alone. No, he wouldn't do that. "She dropped my hand, something hit it and I let go of hers. But she was holding Edmunds too." I frowned, taking one look round to make sure she wasn't there.

Ed looked almost as upset as Lucy who had tears streaming down her face, "No, she let go of mine too. Maybe she just got separated. She's probably somewhere in Narnia right now!" he said, trying to reassure himself more than us. I nodded, wanting to believe it too.

"Let's go then! Let's go find her." Lucy said, taking my hand and began pulling us across the sand. We'd come through in the same place as last time; in the cave on the beach. About 50 ft above us, at the top of the cliff, stood the same ruin of Cair Paravel; our old home.

Twenty minutes later we stood next to it, looking over at the endless blue ocean. If Susan was here, it would take forever to find her. As far as I knew, Narnia could be the size of America; it definitely wasn't small.

"Maybe we should start by finding Telmar?" Edmund offered.

"Are you mad? Telmar could be gone! We have no idea who's in control, what's been happening here. We don't know anything! Sorry Lu, but we don't even know friend from foe!" I sighed, looking over at them.

Lucy nodded; she seemed to have gotten over her crying. Now she had the expression I recognized very well, she was determined now, to find Susan. "Okay, so we hang around in the woods or what? What are we supposed to do here Peter? How are we supposed to find her?" she asked, sitting on a rock.

We stood in silence for a while, trying to figure something out. Then Edmund grinned, "I have an idea. It probably won't help Su but it may just help us think like Kings and Queens again." We frowned at him, "Let's get changed!"

I sighed with a smile and agreed. Lucy jumped up and ran towards a door covered by green. We'd found this entrance last time, but it was less overgrown now. In the room below, we found the four huge wooden trunks and the four statues of us when we were older. In the cases were our things; my swords, armor, clothes. Lucy found her clothes, dagger and the small bottle of red liquid that she was given on our first visit. Edmund found his clothes too and his swords. Once we were all ready; Lucy standing tall and proud in a long light green dress, we stood around Susan's. Mine and hers were in the middle as we were the oldest, I looked up at the statue and smiled; she'd loved it. We didn't open her case in the end.

"Come on you two, let's go find our sister." I smiled, turning around and heading back up the stairs. They followed slowly into the bright, warm air.

With one final look around our former home, we walked away into the forest; armed once again.

* * *

"You tired yet Shadow?" I asked breathlessly, patting his soft neck. I laughed as it shook; this was one horse that never got tired. We'd been going for almost an hour now but we'd only just got out of the trees.

He slowed down to a walk as we neared the top of the hill in the middle of the huge grassy field. From here I could see almost all of Narnia; all the way over to Cair Paravel right in the distance. I looked sadly over there at our old home; could the others be there now? It was very likely that they would have come out onto the beach just as we had last time.

Only one way to find out; I kicked Shadow on, hardly needing too. Within a minute we were galloping flat out, back down the hill and back into the forest in the direction of the castle.

I no longer clang to his mane as we dodged the trees; I knew he wouldn't let me hit them and I always managed to duck in time for low branches. I trusted Shadow now, and I got the feeling he trusted me too.

On any other horse, it would have taken at least a day to get to the coast; however it only took us another two hours at this speed. About half an hour before we arrived, I could have sworn I'd heard voices through the trees but then again, I was quite clearly the only person in this forest. As we galloped through, I realized that it would be near impossible to walk through it.

And then we were there, emerging suddenly into the open; my former home, now a ruin in front of us. I felt a pang of sadness as I saw it again before sliding of the horse and walking forwards on foot. He followed me as I walked through the ruin.

I looked down at myself and realized what I was wearing; a short grey skirt with a white shirt under a dark blue jacket. With a sly smile, I made my way towards the door I knew would be there. It was straight in front of me, slightly ajar; I pushed it open fully and walked down the stairs. Shadow waited patiently as I disappeared.

But there was something different about the chamber as I entered it; sure enough, the four statues and chests where there as they should be, but the three belonging to my siblings were open. They were almost empty. I frowned, looking into each one. What did that mean? That they'd already been and gone? Or that their things had been taken? If the second, why not take my things as well? I settled for the first; new hope in me.

Slowly, I approached mine and lifted the lid open after a long look at the statue of me, twenty years from now. On the top of the chest was my bow and set of arrows with their red feathered tips. Under these were my clothes and other various weapons.

I pulled out a dress to wear and put it on. It was light blue with a white lining and a square neck line. I remembered this being one of my favorites while we'd been here last time. Before I left again, I slung my bow and arrow over my shoulder and took my long sword with a silver hilt. Not that I expected to be fighting anything; I just always felt better in Narnia with these things.  
Shadow was grazing on a nearby grassy patch when I reemerged. He looked up briefly as I approached him but then went back to eating. He really was a big horse, I was tall but his back came just below my eye line.

I had a sudden thought; if my siblings had indeed already been here, then that could have been them that I heard in the forest. But surely they would've known that forest well enough to know how thick it was.

Oh well, I could quickly go round and meet them on the other side. That would be easy. I patted Shadow's neck again before jumping up onto his back. He scraped his hooves on the ground; apparently knowing what I was planning, before shooting off into the woods again. I laughed and leant over his neck, holding on.

I didn't hear any more voices; I didn't even know where I'd heard them before. However there was a faint trail through the trees and twice I saw a small piece of ripped green fabric; I guessed it was Lucy's dress.

I urged Shadow on faster to catch them up. All I wanted was to see my family again. Suddenly I felt a cool breeze whip past me, Shadow stopped suddenly and I had to cling on to stop from flying over his head.

_Suuuuussssaaaaaannnnnn_, I froze, I recognized that voice very well.

But no, it wasn't there…she wasn't back. Shaking my head; I kicked Shadow on again. I'd gone so fast in my life, I got the feeling he wanted to get out of the forest as soon as he possibly could. No more than half an hour later, we broke free from the trees into a huge plain. There was no sign of Peter, Lucy or Edmund.

_Suuuuussssaaaaaannnnnn_

The voice came again; I heard the sound of bells behind me. No no no no; I was imagining it! She wasn't back; we'd put her away! She was locked in the ice that she created! She couldn't return…without a humans blood….but no-one in Narnia was that foolish! No, it wasn't real, just me. And Shadow?

I risked a look behind me…no.

About fifty meters behind me was a big white sleigh; pulled my four huge white bears. It was chasing me and fast. But that wasn't that bothered me so much, sitting at the back of the sleigh sat a tall, ghostly white woman.

The White Witch.

Shadow surely didn't need asking twice as I pushed him on again. I didn't know what to do, where was I supposed to go? I didn't even know where I was! Nobody could help me now apart from Aslan and he sure wouldn't suddenly appear. He was the one who'd told us not to return; maybe this was why.

She was almost next to me now, how could these bears outrun the lord of all horses? That was strange, but then again, Shadow had been running for a long time now and he had had no water that I knew of. Great.

"Susan. Give up my darling." Her voice came, soothingly. "Stop Susan!" I knew I had no choice and so, apparently, did Shadow. "Get off that beautiful horse now." Why was she talking like that? Why was she being nice? Knowing I had no power, I did as I was told.

Shadow looked at me in confusion, "Go, go to Lucy." I whispered, he heard me and with one more look, he left; galloping off into the trees.

"Aww, your noble steed has left you. Now come, come and sit with me sweetie." She smiled. She sat there like the Queen she was not, a huge white, fur cloak around her. She wore a long white dress, her hair, long blonde dreads, were tied up on the top of her head behind her crown; that was five long icicles. "Come, Susan." Her smile didn't seem strained, she seemed truthful. From what Edmund had told me about the time he spent with her, she was an expert class liar.

Reluctantly, I stepped onto the sleigh and sat beside her; she flung the rest of the fur over me. It wasn't totally necessary, but only then did I notice the constant cool wind. She was returning, one thing about Narnia was that it was never cold since the White Witch left. Any sighting of ice or snow caused much panic around the Narnians.

The dwarf at the front of the sleigh wacked the bears with a whip and we were flying through the air again. "So, how are you darling?" she asked, "Relax." She added, I was sitting up, totally tense. I leant back, slightly less tense somehow.

After a minute I forced myself to answer, "Fine."

She laughed, a seemingly carefree, happy laugh; I didn't believe any of it for one second. "Of course you are, little High Queen Susan." The sound of my title in her voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Yes, that's me; _High _Queen Susan. That means that even if you were Queen of Narnia, which you are not, that's Lucy, you would still be below me." I smiled, that was the truth. Peter was High King, I was High Queen and Edmund and Lucy were King and Queen; though they too were higher ranking than the other King of Narnia. That had been Caspian.

I saw her jaw clench then unclench, "Right then. I will…try and remember that. But you know me, I _am_ the true Queen of Narnia." That sounded final.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. "Now, what do you want from me? Peter, Edmund and Lucy didn't come this time. It's just me." I lied; Peter had always told me I was a good liar. I had done it a lot in the past two years; telling them I was fine when I wasn't.

"You know I don't believe that." She laughed quietly, putting her cold arm around my shoulder.

"Too bad, it's the truth." I sighed. It had been almost four years since I'd seen her last and she seemed very different. No doubt she was still the same bitch underneath. "Where are we going?"

"Home. You've never been to my castle have you darling?" she asked, brushing my hair away from my face like my mother would have. I backed away from her hand and she smiled.

"I have actually. Not that you would know. And I've seen all the Narnians that you turned to stone. "I informed her, there was a muscle going in her cheek beneath the smile. She hadn't known that I think; that Lucy, Aslan and I had been the ones to free them and rebuild that army, the one that had beaten her.

She didn't speak again for a while. I sat, tense besides her; every now and again inching further away. I wondered if Shadow had found Lucy, if she'd understand anything like I would. Like me, Lucy loved animals, but who knew whether she'd recognize Shadow for what he was.

About an hour later, we turned a corner around the rocks and there in front of us, in the midst of a huge black lake, tall and mighty; stood the White Witches ice castle. Within five minutes we were speeding up the long bridge that connected it to the land.

Through the gates was a huge courtyard, empty now that all the stone statues were gone. I followed her off the sledge reluctantly and through the huge white doors of the castle. Inside was a huge room, straight ahead; up a couple of steps, stood her throne. It was huge, white, icy and intricately carved with another huge fur coat around the seat.

"Kreechin." The witch shouted as she climbed the steps and sat importantly in her throne; I stood there looking around nervously. A huge grey goblin, at least twice the size of me, loped into the room, looking at her expectantly. "Take her." She said simply.

"Wha-?" I asked surprised as the goblin grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me away. He wasn't kind in the least as he pulled me along the corridors. We reached a set of thick doors which we continued through, then another set of icy iron cage doors, then into a huge icy room; an icy wall sticking out one of the walls to separate it slightly. He threw me brutally onto the floor and, before I could react, he'd put two huge metal shackles around my ankles so I couldn't get anywhere. Then he was gone.

"Great, that's just great!" I sighed, sitting up and taking a look around the room.

Suddenly I noticed that I wasn't alone; there was a small person, curled into a ball in the far corner of the room. Whoever it was wore a long, thin looking dress that was incredibly tattered.

"Hello? Who are you?" I called, kindly and cautiously. She looked up, terror in her eyes. She had long blonde hair that was half covering her face and bluey green eyes. She looked young, maybe 13 or 14, and if she hadn't been so grimy, I was sure that she could've been pretty.

"Maria." She stuttered after a second of staring at me. I nodded and smiled reassuringly at her, she seemed truly terrified; I wondered how long she'd been here.

"Hi, I'm Susan. How long have you been here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice kind and reassuring.

She thought for a while, apparently unsure, "I think about one or two weeks. It's hard to tell. The nights are so dark you'd think I'd remember each one." She sighed. I picked up the heavy weights attached to my feet and crawled closer to her.

"Poor you, my brother was here a long time ago too. Why are you here?"

She shifted uncomfortably on the icy ground, "As a punishment; I saw ice and was on my way to inform the King. She caught me before I could get anywhere. Now she thinks me a traitor." She was frowning at the ground as she spoke.

"The King? Who's that?" I asked, a strange feeling of excitement washing over me.

She looked at me incredulously, "You don't know who the _King _is?"

"Course I know what a King is; the name of the King!"

"Oh. Well it's King Caspian of course. The greatest ruler of Narnia ever seen! Unless you count the Kings and Queens of old…"she said, not noticing that at the sound of his name I was no longer listening.

How could he still be King? He'd become King only a week before we'd left last time and that was two years ago; unless he was really old. No matter, I could see him again! "Prince Caspian…how long? How long has he ruled?"

"This is only his fourth year, since the White Witch has returned; time seems to be slowing again like last time."

Four years? How could it have only been four years? Granted, when we'd first encountered the White Witch, time did pass slowly but…four years?

Taking a deep breath, I asked the dreaded question, not knowing if I really wanted to know the answer at all. "Maria, is he married?"

"No; incredibly annoying for any suitors. The other Lords and Ladies are constantly urging him to pick a wife but he won't. You know what I think? I think he's still hung up on the old High Queen! You know, Queen Susan the Gentle! I reckon he loved her." She thought aloud, I didn't answer. He wasn't married! Still hung up on me? That couldn't be right, I was sure he'd never felt the same way about me.

Maria suddenly went quiet; her eyes were wide with pure shock. "Umm…what was your…um…name again?"

"Susan." I smiled as realization swept over her face.

"Your Majesty!! Oh my God! Sorry." She said hurriedly, bending over into an awkward bow.

I laughed quietly, "Don't worry. I wouldn't expect you to recognize me." I smiled, pushing her back up gently by the shoulder. She bopped her head again and sat up straighter, now she looked slightly embarrassed at our previous conversation.

"When did you return? And where are King Peter, Kind Edmund and Queen Lucy?" she asked, seeming more cautious now.

"You don't have to say their titles." I laughed, "I don't know where they are actually." Shock flashed over her grimy face, "Well, I think that they're here…in Narnia. But something went wrong and we didn't all arrive together; I got separated from them. That was a few hours ago."

Plain shock was plastered on her face; she probably didn't think that we'd ever be separate or that we'd come alone.

"Don't be so shocked! 'Things never happen the same way twice.. .'" I muttered, finishing off. That was what Aslan had said to Lucy last time. Maria frowned and stared down at the ice. I sighed and leant back against the freezing wall, looking around the chamber. "You thought up any ways to escape yet?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Seriously? This is the _White Witches _castle. I don't think we're gonna simply escape!" she sighed, shaking her head; then, she looked up as if she'd had an idea. "Are the other Kings and Queens here do you think?" I shrugged and she thought again, "Well if they were…then couldn't they come and save us? If they saw ice…they'd know where to go."

I shook my head slowly, "They didn't see. I tried to follow their path and from what I could remember, they seemed to be going in the direction of Telmar. But I don't really know. Maybe we just have to sit this one out and hope that the Witch won't turn us to stone." I smiled.

Complete horror swept over her face, apparently she hadn't known about that. "What?!!"

"Well…um…last time she kind of turned a few hundred Narnians into stone. Lucy and I came here during a battle with Aslan and…well…unstoned them? If that's the right thing to say. But that was long, long ago! Much before…Caspian." I was helplessly trying to reassure her and get rid of the expression on her face; seemed impossible.

We sat in silence for a while, the light outside soon began to dim and night fell. The chamber was lit up by small rays of moonlight, spilling in from the cracks in the walls. With the light came the cold, freezing icy winds.

"Susan?" Maria asked quietly, I thought she'd been asleep.

"Yes?"

She hesitated, "How did you come back last time?"

I sighed, that was an interesting question. I'd only found that out a few weeks before we'd left for the second time. "Well, the first time we came, Peter, Lucy and I were given a few presents. Edmund was locked up here at the time. I was given a little white horn; wherever I was, that horn would always bring me help. I left it somewhere and somehow, after a long while, your King Caspian got hold of it. He was being chased at the time and blew it. Then we were in Narnia again…" I faded off, one question in my mind.

_Who had blown the horn? _


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, thanks for sticking with this terrible story…if you are! Last chapter was kinda long…sorry about that. Oh well…here goes.**

"Did you hear that?" Lucy called from behind. We stopped and looked back through the trees; a second later she reemerged, frowning to herself.

"Hear what Lu?" I asked as she caught up.

"Bells? Like a sledge or something. Probably just me." She sighed, taking another look around before she passed Edmund and me. I shook my head as we trudged on. We'd been walking for hours through this thick forest. At one point I could have sworn I'd heard a horse running through a way away. Lucy had heard that too but Ed had just moaned and pulled us on. You heard a lot of noises in woods like these.

A while later we finally got out of the trees, now we stood on a big plain. I looked around, no sign of any danger. We continued to walk until we reached the top of the hill. From there we could see Cair Paravel in the distance. I whistled, "Wow…we've walked far!"

"True." Ed laughed. Lucy was staring the opposite way.

"Hey, you two; there's a horse. Over there, it's coming over!" she called, pointing out in front of her. We turned around and followed her hand; sure enough there was a huge white stallion galloping towards us over the plain. It was incredibly fast and reached us in no more than a minute.

"Hello there!" Lucy smiled, reaching forwards to lay a hand on its soft nose. "What's that on your ba-"she stopped mid sentence, staring at the two objects strapped to the horses back.

A sword, a bow and a bundle of red feathered arrows.

"Those are Susan's." I thought aloud, Ed nodded and Lucy frowned. I walked over and picked them up; the horse neighed and shook his head. "What are they doing here?"

"She must have…I don't know, ridden this horse? But if that was it, where would she be now?" Ed said, looking around at the direction from which the horse had come.

"Hang on…_hang on!_ I know this horse." Lucy piped up, studying the horses face. Suddenly her eyes widened and she gasped, realizing where she knew him from, "This is Shadow! Oh my-!" she saw the confusion on our faces and sighed, "The Lord of all horses!" she said slowly as if we were stupid. I nodded, still slightly confused. "I wonder why he has Su's things, all the old stories that we read said how he was never seen and had never actually been ridden before."

I sighed again, "So he's wild?" The horse tossed back its huge head and showed me all of its teeth at once. Nice.

"He's not wild…he's just not tame. He _can't_ be ridden; never has been." Lucy argued quietly, reaching up and wrapping her arms around the horse's neck; she could reach to its mane though.

"You don't think he could lead us back to Susan do you?" Ed asked, watching the horse closely.

Without another word, the horse turned and started trotting away in the direction he'd come.

"Guess so." Lucy grinned and ran after him.

I didn't hear her as she strode into the icy chamber; Maria and I were both half asleep. We hadn't slept well throughout the night and I was under the impression Maria hadn't slept since she arrived.

"Susan my darling, how are you faring?" the White Witch asked loudly, I jolted up into a sitting position.

"Fine." I muttered, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand and yawning.

"Good. Now where are your siblings?" It wasn't a question any more.

I shook my head and closed my eyes for a second, "I've already told you, they didn't come through. It's just me this time. That's the truth." I could tell she was struggling to keep her face straight as I spoke. She began to pace up and down the cell.

"You don't seem to understand me Susan. I know that they are here in Narnia and I _will _find them no matter what. You telling me will only prevent any more harm coming to you." She stated coldly. I knew she was lying, there was no way that she could know my brothers and sister was here. I didn't even know if they were here!

"Well, they're not."

I stared right back into her cold grey eyes until she looked away, turning to the same goblin that had brought me here.

"Kreechin, you know what to do." She smiled kindly, looking back at me. Kreechin loped past her and grabbed me roughly by the arm, pulling me to my feet. I winced, that would leave another bruise, no doubt. Before I could push him away though, his fist came down hard on my right cheekbone, knocking me to the floor.

I gasped and my hand flew to my cheek; I'd always known that goblins where strong but not that strong! I couldn't do anything but curl into a ball and cover my head with my arms as the creature kicked me.

"J-jadis!" I croaked, stopped short by another kick.

"Stop…Kreechin." The witch ordered, he was back behind her straight away. My stomach ached like hell and I knew I'd be bruised.

Without another word, Jadis and Kreechin strode out of the cell, leaving us silent.

I didn't move until long after their footsteps had faded away. Maria had dragged herself over to me and was staring at me with a scared expression.

"Are you okay?" she murmured, her fingertips brushing my swollen cheek.

"Hmm. Help me up." I winced as she put her arm around me and pulled me up to a sitting position. It was mainly my stomach that hurt but it was nothing I couldn't handle, my cheek stung a bit and I could feel the stickiness of blood on it. "I'm fine." I muttered to Maria, still looking scared.

"You don't look it. Sorry."

That much was probably true. I looked down at myself; of course I couldn't see any difference though apart from the fact that my dress was now just a bit dirty.

"We should try and get out of here." I muttered, her eyes widened at my statement.

"Umm…there's no way to escape! There are guards everywhere even if you can't see them and I'm willing to guess that we're pretty high up!" she said quietly and quickly, I smiled slightly, stretching my neck. "Plus, no-one has ever escaped from here and that's a well known fact!"

"There's always a first for everything."

Throughout the rest of the day I persuaded Maria to have a go, we hatched a plan. As night fell, we began.

It wasn't hard to reach the first sizable hole in the wall, from which we saw just how high up we were. "Nonononononononono. I can't do it, I can't do it, and I can't do it!" Maria rambled, instantly backing up. I just sighed and pulled her on. Taking a deep breath, I lowered myself painfully onto the ledge below; it was about a foot wide and seemed to go all the way round the tower. Maria appeared shakily next to me.

"Scared of heights?"

She nodded, clinging onto the tower for all she was worth. Luckily I never had been. To say the least, it was definitely difficult trying to hold on, walk steadily and carry the weights specifically designed to stop us escaping. It took us half an hour just to get down two levels; the closer we got to the icy ground, the more confident Maria became. We hadn't seen anyone; the castle seemed deserted. We knew it wasn't though.

It wasn't long later that we heard her.

"I must find them. If that little Caspian gets them before I do then we may be in trouble. Anyway; he calls himself a King! He doesn't even know I'm back! Hahahaha." Jadis's voice rang out through another hole; there wasn't any glass in the windows. I froze, we had no way down; she'd see us if we passed here and if she looked out the window we were dead.

So we waited.

"Where do you reckon he's taking us?" I asked Lucy as we followed the horse out of the other side of the forest. Edmund was walking about ten meters behind us.

"Well to Susan of course!" she rolled her eyes and smiled, clearly excited at the idea.

I turned back to look at Edmund, "Come on!" I shouted. He didn't seem to hear me; he was staring at something in the distance. "ED!" he turned and glanced at me irritably before looking back. I sighed and trudged back to him, following his gaze. When I saw what he was staring at I froze too.

There, atop a large hill on the other side of the plain, stood the Telmarine castle, the small town of Telmar around it.

"Oh for God's sake, what is wrong with you two-"Lucy stopped abruptly, a slow grin spreading across her face as she took in the castle, "Umm…can we..go there?" she asked slowly after a few seconds silence.

I looked hesitantly from her to the huge Shadow who'd just turned and come back to us. He neighed once again and threw his head back. I shrugged, "Okay then. But remember we don't know anything about what's been happening here. Don't tell anyone who you are." That seemed like a sensible thing to do; normally it was Susan who was the sensible one, I was the one who'd jump into things like scaling the height of a tower with no ropes.

Twenty minutes later we were entering the smallish town through the main gates. Shadow had run off up the hill, I got the impression he'd wait for us though so I didn't panic.

Unlike last time we were here; people didn't flock around to see us. Now they didn't know who we were most likely. I had no idea how many years had passed but it was probably a long time knowing the weird Narnian times.

Soon we were walking through the cities inner wall into the castle; this gate was more heavily guarded yet still not that many. Two guards stood there, they stood watching our approach cautiously. The armor they wore hadn't changed much from last time we were here, strange.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" one of them said gruffly, standing in our path.

"Oh, sorry; I'm Peter, this is my sister Lucinda and my brother Edward. We're friends of someone who works in the palace and they told us to meet them in the hall." I lied quickly; it seemed quite believable. The guard nodded and let us in with no more hassle. Edmund whistled out a long breath once out of hearing distance.

"_Lucinda?_" Lucy asked incredulously, "You called me _Lucinda_?"

I grinned, "It's quite close Lu. Why, you like it?" she scowled and poked me in the ribs, I laughed and we carried on walking.

"They're not looking." Edmund told me quietly from behind, I looked back at the guards; they were talking to a pair of girls. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

Taking one more glance around, I pulled Lucy and Edmund into the stables under the archway. I remembered there being a back entrance in here from last time; there was no point risking going through the main hall which would no doubt be full of people. "This way." I muttered, guiding them through the stables to the small wooden door at the back.

The passage led us up and down stairs and along corridors until we eventually found somewhere recognizable. "Hey, isn't this Susan's door?" Lucy asked suddenly, her voice wringing through the corridor.

She opened the door and stepped in. The room was exactly the same as it had been then, nothing had changed. "How come she always got the nicest room?" Lucy moaned, perching on the edge of the huge bed.

We laughed, "We all had nice rooms Lu." Ed grinned, sitting next to her.

I smiled and walked over to the window; what were we supposed to do? It was all very well coming here but…why? Before I could ask them, we heard voices coming from outside, footsteps coming towards the room.

"Lucy. Under the bed. Ed. Curtains." I hissed, we all dispersed, I jumped into the huge wardrobe and pulled the door so it was just open a crack.

The door to the room opened a second after we'd all settled. And in walked…Caspian? I drew in a sharp breath and heard a little gasp from where Lucy lay. I caught her eye, I could just see her, she winced as if to apologize.

Caspian looked around the room, clearly confused. He didn't look any different except that his hair was slightly shorter and he seemed slightly fitter. I frowned to myself; hadn't time changed at all? Something was wrong here and I knew it.

With one more sweeping glance around the room, he quickly turned and left.

After a second, waiting to make sure he'd gone, we all stumbled out of our hiding places into the middle of the room.

"Oh. My. God." Lucy breathed.

"My sentiments exactly." Edmund murmured in reply.

"How is he still alive? We've been gone two whole years!" By the looks on their faces they clearly had no clue.

Edmund looked like he wanted to say something so I watched him expectantly, "Umm…should we…I dunno…go…find him? Talk to him?"

"I'm not sure; we can't know who to trust Ed."

"But it's _Caspian!_" Lucy exclaimed like I was an idiot "Of course we can trust him Peter!"

"Yeah, that was _two years ago. _How can we know what's changed here in that time."

Edmund spoke next, "Well I think he still trusts us; and I also think that he still likes Su." I frowned in confusion and he carried on, "He came in here, Susan's old room; which is exactly how she left it. I can guess that ours aren't. And why would he walk in here anyway?"

"Ok, so Caspian's good; but what about all the others? The Lords…the court? What side are they on?"

"That's what we need to find out." Lucy stated with an eager smile, "Let's go Edward and Peter."

Edmund scowled at our eldest brother, "Thanks. C'mon _Lucinda_."


	4. Chapter 4

We were lucky I suppose; the witch left after ten minutes. Ten long minutes of the two of us frozen precariously on that tiny ledge over a five story drop. Lucky's the word. Hearing footsteps getting quieter, then a door slam shut, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"C'mon. You okay?" I asked Maria, she looked so scared.

"I'm fine." She said quietly and I gave her a small smile before we continued. I was on edge to say the least; we'd been right the way around the tower a number of times now and I'd never seen a single guard. But they were here somewhere. The White Witch wasn't stupid enough to not have guards around the castle.

"Maria, there aren't any guards." I said after a few minutes.

She didn't reply; our breath blew out in clouds before us; it was so cold up here. "There must be. Somewhere there must be. They might have seen us."

"We'd know if they had. But we better hurry; it can't be long before someone comes to check on us. When they realize that we aren't there; then we'll definitely know." I told her quickly.

"Yeah; but we need to get rid of these weights." She was right; she was only tiny and I couldn't imagine how she was carrying the huge black brick.

I nodded, "We can't here, but soon. As soon as possible."

An hour later and we'd succeeded on reaching the lowest roof of the castle. Both shivering from the cold and tired; our arms aching from the weights. I knew that if we managed to get the off here they'd find them and then they'd be able to find us.

I found it disconcerting that there were no guards around. Surely Jadis wasn't that stupid? Or maybe she was so arrogant that she truly believed herself invincible. I hoped this was the case, I really did.

There was no way out of the castle beside from the front gate. Of course then you had to either cross the drawbridge or clamber through the tangle of thorns filling the deep ditches. The second didn't seem too attractive to me.

At the gates there was a guard, the first I'd seen. He was slumped against the wall and snoring loudly, a bottle hung in his hand and his helmet slanted to cover his eyes. We were crouched at the side of the courtyard in a doorway of a tiny cupboard. I looked around and sighed, spotting another two guards sat in windows around the place. They weren't looking around much, one of them seemed somewhat engrossed in a book but I was sure that moving into the open to reach the gate would catch their attention. I pulled Maria back into the cupboard and we stood in a thoughtful silence for a minute.

"What should we do?" she asked quietly.

I sighed again, "I have no idea. There's no we can rely on someone coming to get us; no-one knows we're here. If we go out there we'll be caught without a doubt. We could go back up and climb over the walls but they're pretty high and we couldn't exactly jump. So that's pointless." She nodded in agreement; the situation was pretty hopeless. She shifted her foot and something creaked loudly, we both froze.

She stepped back and we looked at the floor, pulling back a rug. Sure enough, there was a little trapdoor. I smiled, "That is perfect." She announced. We carefully lifted it up to reveal a dark hole; the dim light from the room reflecting slightly.

"Okay, stay close and hope there's nothing down there." I smiled before lowering myself down. I hung for a minute before dropping to the ground. There was a splash as I hit about a foot of water and I gasped at the cold.

"What is it!" Maria asked instantly.

"Nothing…just water. Be prepared for a shock." I called back as quietly as I could. A minute later there was another splash and I could just make out here silhouette as she landed.

"Ooohhhh….cold!"

I smiled, "Okay, there has to be a way out of here somehow. Start looking around the walls." I instructed, moving to what must be the side of the room. My outstretched hands hit dirty stone after a second or two. "Just be quiet as well; they'll be able to hear us."

There was about five minutes full of splashes and silent patting of walls. I couldn't find anything where I was looking but apparently Maria did, "_Here!_ I've found something! Susan come!" she practically squealed. I rushed over as quietly as I could with the water spilling around my feet. She took my hand and put it on the wall, only there was no wall. I felt around to find a hole around a half a meter square. Beyond that was a tunnel that seemed to go up. I couldn't see anything at the end of it but there was a very faint draft that convinced me it was good.

"Yes! Well done Maria!" I gushed, "Do you want to go first of should I?" I asked.

She hesitated for a second, "I don't know…I get kind of scared in small spaces. If I got stuck…"

I understood; Lucy had the same thing in that she's have a slight panic attack if she was in a confined and dark place. "Okay, I'll go first. Just stay close. We'll go slowly." I assured her before picking up the weight attached to my foot and putting it in the tunnel. I then eased myself into it. I'd been here a few days, Maria a couple of weeks and I knew she'd hardly been fed; I hadn't at all. Sure it made us weaker and more frail but I'd sure lost weight, she had too though I hadn't seen her before.

It was slow work, shuffling along on our fronts. We had to keep sliding the weights ahead and I could hear her slightly panicked breathing behind me. I kept offering her encouraging words, saying that we were almost at the end.

It must have been ten minutes we were in there before I spotted a shiny white ball at the end. "I see the moon Maria." I called back to her and heard her sigh in relief. The tunnel was getting steeper and slightly tighter, we had to go on our hands and knees as much as possible to stop us sliding back down; the force of our backs and hands against the sides stopping us. The weights dragged us down but we kept on going.

There was a stronger breeze now; the icy air spilling down on us. I finally reached the end and let out a breath of relieve. It came out onto a wide plane; the icy wind instantly whipping my hair and dress around me. I slumped onto the ground, exhausted from the almost climb. Maria did the same beside me, a thankful expression on her face.

"We did it…we're out." I panted. Looking around I saw the Witch's castle about 100 meters behind us. I wasn't aware that we'd gone that far but it was over now. There was a forest a little way to our right which I pointed out to Maria, "We have to get there." I told her. She nodded but neither of us moved. We were knackered to tell the truth; my muscles ached and the bruised too. After a couple more minutes I made a move, "C'mon." I pulled myself to my feet and helped her up before we began to walk, leaning against each other for support. It took us five minutes to reach the first tree, then a few more for us to get through into the denser forest so we could hide. "You alright?"

"After a sleep. What about you?" she told me with a small smile and I laughed quietly, the movement hurting my bruised stomach.

"I've seen worse. We really need to get out of here; when the Witch finds out we're gone, as she will very soon, she's going to comb through every inch of these forests for us. We have to move." I explained quietly. This far into the trees we could only just see the plain where we'd been before. The icy lake shone in the moonlight. I thought of Shadow for a moment; he would definitely come in use here.

I wrapped my arm around Maria's waist and put her arm over my shoulders to support her. I knew she wasn't a strong person, physically or emotionally already. After ten minutes of clambering over the knotting roots I knew she needed to stop. She looked up suddenly, pausing, "Hey, did you hear that?" she asked, looking around with a scared expression.

"Hear what?" I asked, stopping too.

"_That_!" I listened, there was a drumming sound coming from a little way off; I couldn't tell what direction. It was getting louder. "What is that?"

"I don't know." I froze in shock as I saw the trees bending, moving, twisting; carving a path in front of us. Maria looked terrified but a smile spread over my face. The trees had formed a long, arched passage through the forest, and down that passage ran a huge, white Stallion. "Brilliant." I laughed quietly.

"Susan!" she squealed, not knowing what to do.

Shadow slowed to a walk besides us and I stroked his nose softly. "We're okay now Maria." I assured her, then turned to the horse, "Where's Lucy?" I murmured and he neighed softly, swinging his head to the side to indicate the way he'd come. "Thank you." Another neigh and he knelt. "On we get." Maria looked totally bewildered as I lifted myself onto the horse's back. He waited and I signaled for her to follow suit and she hesitantly clambered on behind me. "Hold on tight, and keep your head down." I warned her.

A second later we were flying back through the trees, my fingers knotted in his mane and Maria clinging onto me for dear life; she was making terrified little noises. I hardly noticed the air getting warmer as we put more and more distance between us and the castle but I knew it was.

I wasn't sure where we were headed this time, but wherever it was would be better than here.

**Adequate? Reviews…yes please**


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